Watcher
by SCWLC
Summary: Do you ever wonder what spurred Giles to become a watcher after the Eyghon incident in university? This is my take on it.


Title: Watcher  
Author: SCWLC  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
Summary: Did you ever wonder why Giles did choose to become a watcher after the Eyghon incident in university? My take on it.  
Notes: This was spurred by a really weird dream I had involving "Sister Act" and "The Lord of the Rings". Don't ask.  
  
Ripper sat down before the Shaman. His friends had dispersed after the murder. He could only think of it in those terms. They had raised the demon and had been forced to kill a friend just to survive. The others had left, coping in their own ways. He needed advice though, advice only this man could give.  
  
The Shaman was an elderly man, both smile and frown lines testified to the life he had lead. His hands, still quick, were gnarled and callused, and his too bright eyes were sunk into his head. This was not a man who had aged well. His every movement told a story of long years of practice, and his nearly immobile face held an inner peace Ripper could only hope he would someday feel.  
  
Finally the other man spoke, "Why have you come here?"  
  
He took in a deep breath and gathered his courage to speak, "I need to know what I should do now," he was about to explain what he meant when the Shaman raised a sardonic eyebrow and interrupted.  
  
"You want to know your purpose," he said, "The only thing the outsiders ask me." Stung, Ripper opened his mouth to respond but was prevented from speaking by the elder's next words, "You think as a watcher I would not consider you an outsider? They are more outside than most."  
  
Ripper's face, which had been calm to match the Shaman's to that point, turned to a slight frown of displeasure, "I am not a watcher. I will never be one," he said firmly, "To become one of those old men trailing around after a girl who needs instruction and control day and night," he snorted, "If she's that pathetic maybe we should make a decent posse and just kill the demons ourselves."  
  
A flash of something indefinable lit the Shaman's eyes, and he said mildly, "Perhaps you do not understand your role as well as you think."  
  
Ripper was about to respond that he knew quite well thank you. After all, he'd listened to his father and grandmother from the day he was born telling stories of the exploits of watchers and their slayers. Tales of how the girls lacked the foresight an understanding of a situation and how that was their calling. To control these wild cards in the play of the game between good and evil.  
  
He did not get to respond however, because the old man stood up with a quickness that belied his aged appearance and took some herbs from a table at the far end of the room. As Ripper watched curiously, they were tied into a bundle and thrown into the fire.  
  
Smoke billowed out from the flames and the Shaman's voice seemed to echo around the small room, images appearing in the smoke and flames, "Perhaps you need to understand your place as a watcher better." Than the tale began.  
  
***  
  
Many centuries ago, there was a man. He was well learned and travelled far in search of new knowledge. His travels one day took him to a resting place where he met a girl. He introduced himself, as did she. They spoke together for some time and when both left on their journeys they went together.  
  
For many weeks they walked. Together they fought and defended against the denizens of the night. Their numbers far greater in that lost time than now. The man began to notice that the girl was far better than he at battling the beasts. One day he asked her how she came to have the strength and skill to match the monsters'. She told him she was the Slayer.  
  
For in that time, the Slayer was known to all, and all worshipped her for her skill and strength. She was welcomed into villages as a sign of blessing. When she told her companion her identity, he began to ask questions. Some for which she had answers, some which she did not. The more questions he asked, the more she became curious as to the answers.  
  
So, the pair began a quest to answer both their questions. They travelled far and wide in search of those answers. Going far beyond the lands held by humanity and into those far-away places where demons ruled, and other creatures held sway around them. They travelled back to human places and were joined by a warlock and his charge. A young girl with a destiny to save the world.   
  
The girl was not a slayer, but something else, and the Slayer and her companion agreed to guard the girl. They were chased many years, undergoing hardship upon hardship, and in the end were forced to leave the girl with an ancient religious sect. Times had changed, and those people who once welcomed the Slayer now treated her with suspicion and even hatred. She admitted to her friend that she had hidden her calling from him when they first met because of these seeds of hatred she had seen growing so many years before.  
  
They had been friends with one priestess since they had saved her from a beast so long ago. She welcomed them and agreed to take the girl in, to protect her and hide her from those who would do her harm.   
  
The Slayer then said she had to leave. she had to hide herself from those people who had once been her worshippers. Their anger toward her would not be appeased save by her disappearance. She was also aging and knew that soon her successor would be called. Her companion of so many years refused to leave her, saying that he would watch for her, and would watch for her successor.  
  
The last that was seen of the Slayer was her form vanishing into the night, followed by her watcher. So he watched for her, and he watched for the girl who came after. Generations of his family came after and watched these girls who hid from the fury of the world even as they saved it.  
  
***  
  
Rupert came out of his trance to find himself alone in the small cabin. He made his way back to civilisation and quietly forgot the words of the old shaman. Until one day, a young blonde girl in impractical clothing walked into the library he worked at, and fled in fear from the life he made her face.  
  
He threw the Slayer's Handbook out that night. 


End file.
